Welcome to the 13th International Congress on Autoimmunity interactive program

Navigating polyautoimmunity: Interdisciplinary awareness and value-added reporting in clinical practice - Supported by Thermo Fisher Scientific Session Description: Despite its considerable prevalence, awareness amongst the medical community for patients with more than one autoimmune disease, now commonly termed polyautommunity (polyAI), is limited, often resulting in delays for correct diagnoses and sub-optimal treatment decisions. The immunology laboratory has a key role in guiding diagnostic and management decisions for patients with autoimmune disorders. This session will present the latest research on the frequency and the genetic background of polyAI in context of celiac and thyroid diseases. Through informative patient cases we will hear about the specific challenges in diagnosing and managing patients with polyAI, highlighting the importance of close communication between medical disciplines. We will further learn how reporting likelihood ratios for the presence of a disease rather than numeric test results can help improving patient management and how this approach can be successfully implemented in clinical routine. In a moderated panel discussion at the end of this session, we will discuss how awareness for polyAI and a close exchange between different medical disciplines including the laboratory can be facilitated in clinical practice and which patient groups at risk for autoimmune comorbidities may profit the most from screening approaches.